SISTER
SANCTUARIES TO PROTECT ENDANGERED WHALES
AT BOTH ENDS OF ANNUAL MIGRATION
United States and Dominican Republic Partner in Historic Conservation
Effort

Jan.
29, 2007 — NOAA established a "sister
sanctuary" arrangement between the NOAA
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of Massachusetts
and the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic, two marine
protected areas 1,500 miles apart that provide conservation programs
for the same population of humpback whales. (Click NOAA image
for larger view of humpback whale breaching in the NOAA Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary, which is one of the acrobatic behaviors that
whale watchers enjoy seeing. Whale watching is a major ecotourism industry
in both the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the Marine
Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The initiative
is the world's first sister sanctuary linkage protecting an endangered
migratory marine mammal species on both ends of its range. Both sanctuaries
provide critical support for the same population of around 900 whales,
which spend spring and summer in the rich feeding grounds of Stellwagen
Bank before heading south to the warmer waters of the Dominican Republic
in late fall to mate and give birth to their young. The sister sanctuary
agreement was designed to enhance coordination in management efforts
between the two sanctuaries and help improve humpback whale recovery
in the north Atlantic.

"Long-term
research tells us that the same individuals that summer off New England
spend their winters off the Dominican Republic," said NOAA Stellwagen
Bank Sanctuary superintendent Craig
MacDonald. "Coordinating management and research across these
habitats moves us several steps closer to ensuring the health of this
endangered species." (Click NOAA image for larger view
of humpback whale migration route between the NOAA Stellwagen Bank National
Marine Sanctuary and the Marine Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic.
Click here
for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

As sister
sanctuaries, the two sites will explore new avenues for collaborative
management efforts, including joint research, monitoring, education
and capacity building programs. The NOAA
National Marine Sanctuary Program anticipates that the relationship
will be crucial to future protection of the north Atlantic humpback
whale population, as well as to the development of further cooperative
agreements.

"The
sister sanctuary relationship will play a powerful role in protecting
endangered humpback whales, and the opportunity for international cooperation
in marine conservation is invaluable," said Daniel J. Basta, NOAA
sanctuary program director. "This agreement has the potential to
improve our scientific knowledge, enhance our management ability and
increase the program's visibility—benefits that extend far beyond
the sanctuaries involved."

The
official memorandum of understanding to create the sister sanctuary
relationship was signed by Basta and Maximiliano Puig, minister for
the environment and natural resources for the Dominican Republic. The
sister sanctuary agreement goes into effect immediately and establishes
the cooperation guidelines for the next five years. (Click NOAA
image for larger view of humpback whale in the NOAA Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary with a bubble net, which are often employed
to contain schools of small fish, like sand lance. The whale then comes
up through the net to catch the fish. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"This
conservation action is important as a model for the wider Caribbean
region," said Puig. "Our sanctuary was the first marine mammal
sanctuary established in the region, and it continues to lead by example.
Our broadest mandate is to engender a new discussion in our society
about the importance of marine mammals, the oceans in which they live
and our responsibility as ocean stewards."

The
NOAA Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary encompasses 842 square
miles of ocean, stretching between Cape Ann and Cape Cod offshore of
Massachusetts. Renowned for its scenic beauty and remarkable productivity,
the sanctuary supports a rich assortment of marine life, including marine
mammals, more than 30 species of seabirds, more than 60 species of fishes,
and hundreds of marine invertebrates and plants. (Click NOAA
image for larger view of humpback whale in the NOAA Stellwagen Bank
National Marine Sanctuary, which can engulf massive amounts of water
as it feeds in the sanctuary. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

The NOAA
National Marine Sanctuary Program seeks to increase the public awareness
of America's marine resources and maritime heritage by conducting scientific
research, monitoring, exploration and educational programs. Today, the
sanctuary program manages 13 national marine sanctuaries and one marine
national monument that together encompass more than 150,000 square miles
of America's ocean and Great Lakes natural and cultural resources.

In October
1986, the "Silver Bank Humpback Whale Sanctuary" was established
in the Dominican Republic to protect the mating, calving and nursery
grounds of humpback whales. In 1996, the sanctuary was extended to include
Navidad Bank and part of Samana Bay, covering the three main humpback
breeding grounds in Dominican waters. At this time the sanctuary was
renamed Santuaria de Mamiferos Marinos de la Republica Dominicana (Marine
Mammal Sanctuary of the Dominican Republic), or SMMRD in Spanish. Today,
the SMMRD protects all marine mammals within its 19,438-square-mile
area. Within the sanctuary, Silver Bank, located approximately 50 miles
northeast of the Dominican Republic coast in the Caribbean Sea, represents
the densest concentration of humpbacks found in the north Atlantic.

Created
in the year 2000 by the merger of more than ten institutions, the Ministry
of Environment and Natural Resources is one of the young ministries
of the Dominican Republic. Its mission is to protect and manage the
country's environment and natural resources with the objective of reaching
sustainable development. Every year, during the humpback whale observation
period of January to March, the ministry establishes an agreement with
local and governmental institutions to promote tourism, marine and business
activities within the sanctuary that do not affect the habitat and reproductive
cycle of the mammals. This initiative is the result of the ministry's
policy for an open, democratic and participative management based on
the cooperation and strategic alliances between the state, local communities,
the private sector and non-governmental organizations.

NOAA, an
agency of the U.S. Commerce Department,
is celebrating 200 years
of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of
the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation
of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the
1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental
stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the
emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and
the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that
is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.